News Article

Accell Group Acquires (E-) Cargo Bikes Specialist

HEERENVEEN, the Netherlands – Accell Group increased its minority stake in Velosophy B.V. from 35 to 100 percent. Velosophy, owner of among them Babboe, is a fast-growing innovative player in e-cargo bike solutions for consumers and the business market.

“With this acquisition we accelerate our innovation strategy, which is among others focused on the development of urban mobility solutions,” Accell Group stated today. Velosophy has around 50 employees and a recorded turnover of € 17.7 million in 2017. Accell Group will finance the acquisition from its own resources. The transaction is subject to the approval of the German market authority and completion is expected in the third quarter of 2018.

Already minority stake

For many years Accell Group has been involved in Velosophy and the current management via a 35 percent minority stake. Velosophy launched the Babboe brand more than 10 years ago with the aim of making cargo bikes available for all young families. Babboe claims to be the European market leader and is available in 22 countries. To serve the top end of the market, in 2018 Velosophy launched CarQon, a premium e-cargo bike with an innovative and award-winning design.

Velosophy’s third brand, Centaur Cargo, serves the fast-growing market for electric delivery bikes for urban transport. This B2B cargo bike specialist is currently running various pilots in partnership with major e-commerce players. Accell Group’s indirect stake of 14% in Carver remains unchanged.

Urban mobility strategy

Ton Anbeek, CEO Accell Group: “This acquisition is a significant step forward in our urban mobility strategy and bolsters our position in the market for e-cargo bikes. The focus of this strategy is not just on consumers, but also on the growing demand for smarter and cleaner mobility solutions for the delivery of parcels, shopping and meals in cities.”

“The Velosophy team lives and breathes innovation and provides us with even more execution power in the international e-cargo bike market. Together we can make a real difference for both consumers and the business market in areas such as electric drives and safety, but also on specific e-cargo innovations such as battery capacity, road holding and cornering stability.”

Epco Vlugt, General Manager Velosophy: “We are extremely pleased with this acquisition. Accell has been involved as a shareholder right from the start and through those years has been helping us to realise our vision. The growing international demand for urban bike solutions is creating enormous opportunities. We are not big enough to respond to this market development. By joining forces with Accell, we will be able to develop and implement our innovative solutions more quickly and launch them on a global scale. The opportunities opened up by Accell give us a huge boost to continue the expansion of Velosophy and its brands.”